Reduction/Change to Service Area?

[RachelE]

Just wondering if anyone has noticed a marked reduction or change to their service area?

I've had great service at my house (Eastern Ontario) but as of 10 days ago I have no access to phone service in my house at all - A huge concern as it means I don't get calls from the care home where my mother lives, and also, I can't call 911.

My brother-in-law is with Rogers. He has zero issues making/taking calls at my home, and my work phone is with Bell, it also works perfectly. (My sister is with PM parent company Telus and she can't use her phone at my house either.)

If this is a known glitch that Telus/PM is working on, that's one thing, but if they're reducing their service area I'll find another  provider. Has anyone else experienced something similar?

[John_G1]

I have now changed it. I will see if it makes a difference (or maybe I won't have any calls in the next few days!)

[dust2dust]

@John_G1- You're on 3G. 3G = WCDMA and UMTS. Did you change it? If not then set it to the LTE/WCDMA/GSM. Maybe you have volte enabled since you see 5G there as well.

[John_G1]

how do I choose 3G? My phone offers me these options:

5G/LTE/WCDMA/GSM

LTC/WCDMA/GSM

WCDMA/GSM (current choice)

WCDMA only

GSM only

[hTideGnow]

HI @John_G1 

they constantly do network maintenance and upgrade, could be the reason

try using 3G only for couple weeks and change back to Automatic or 4G LTE  later

[John_G1]

the problem has affected a couple of Samsung/Android phones and an iPhone12 over the past 2 weeks - just here at the lake, not in Toronto.

[hTideGnow]

HI @John_G1 

3G should help.  PM mostly use 3G for voice calls.

But they started using VoLTE, except only on some phones.  What phones you have? For iPhone, iPhone 8 and up could uses it, but might not work great, so, 3G network should be good. 

[John_G1]

I can try a 3G only setting, though I have never had to use it before - been on PM since at least 2017. I have no idea what a VoLTE toggle is.

[hTideGnow]

HI @John_G1 

ddi you try to change the network to 3G only or WCDMA?

and you have a VoLTE toggle? is it on or off now ?

[John_G1]

having a very similar problem in southwestern Ontario in the past couple of weeks (August 2023). Some calls go through, others to the same number don't, some calls come in, others from the same number do not. Happening on Android and Apple phones.

[Bandsaw]

15 hour outage. All service. Bell and PM.

[RachelE]

I'm going to say it took a week or so to get the first call (I was excited that my phone even RANG, but the was immediately dropped and we had to resort to email after that LOL), then maybe another week to pinpoint what and where had changed? All good now!

[softech]

@RachelE   happy that it is now resolved.   

did it take long for them to fix the tower issue?  was it like a week thing or longer?

[RachelE]

I forgot to update this because it took a fair while, but apparently it was a tower issue and after it was brought to the attention of Telus, and then (I think) Bell, something was jiggled and service was restored. Thanks to the Community for pointing me in the right direction, and to the moderators for pushing my concern up the food chain...It takes a village! 🙂

[Bandsaw]

@darlicious Thanks, I will keep that in mind,  However, not really interested in "Workarounds".  We will see what happens this fall.  I have four phones now with PM.  I have saved a lot, and touch wood, have not had any issues in the 4 to 6 years I have been a PM customer (aside from the LTE voice issues).  My wife is still with Bell though (by design, a risk move - not a good idea to have all services with one provider).

[darlicious]

@Bandsaw 

Yes fingers crossed VoLTE gets implemented sooner rather than later....pm cannot continue to advertise nationwide coverage when the main component of mobile service "voice calling" is unusable. The workaround posted earlier in this thread would work for you in the meantime as well.

[softech]

@Bandsaw   yes, the lack of VoLTE will be a more serious problem in rural area. 

Rumour is that  we might get VoLTE closer to end of September, we will have to wait and see.  

[Bandsaw]

I know that it is not totally related, but since the topic of VoLTE brought up here, I have noticed while travelling the province north of Sault Ste Marie, that more and more Bell towers are VoLTE only making PM useless for voice calls.  SMS is fine.  Something to consider if a new customer thinking about PM and you live in Northern Ontario.  It was mentioned here that VoLTE may be coming to PM??  Hopefully this is true.  I am almost done travelling for work (retirement), but I think I would have switched providers if I had to continue travelling.  PM has been good to me and I am been very happy so far.  The VoLTE issue though can get to be an issue.

I hope your issue gets resolved soon.

[softech]

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@RachelE wrote:

Telus has been trying to call with varying degrees of success. They emailed this morning to say they've forwarded the ticket to an engineer to "further assess a performance issue seen on the serving tower." That sounds promising!

In terms of  3G, the phone autoconnects to GSM/HSPA/LTE, with the other options being without LTE, GSM, or HSPA.

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@RachelE  for the 3G , try to change the preferred network to HSPA only and see if it helps

[RachelE]

Telus has been trying to call with varying degrees of success. They emailed this morning to say they've forwarded the ticket to an engineer to "further assess a performance issue seen on the serving tower." That sounds promising!

In terms of  3G, the phone autoconnects to GSM/HSPA/LTE, with the other options being without LTE, GSM, or HSPA.

[darlicious]

@RachelE 

You are likely using the bell towers for your network. Bell is either upgrading their equipment that interferes with your 3G signal or has eliminated the 3G network locally so you can only connect to the 4G LTE network which has eliminated your ability to make and recieve voice calls. As providers gradually upgrade their equipment to 5G they are selectively eliminating their 3G equipment making access to that network more difficult. Telus is going to have to enable VoLTE for pm customers sooner rather than later as they cannot continue to offer a service that by definition is meant to be used for voice calls if more and more customers cannot use the primary function of that service. This would be a major breach of the WCC.

[softech]

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@RachelE wrote:

The Public Mobile phone  doesn't work, but at least the VOIP download gives me a way to call out, and if the forwarding trick works, possibly I will still be able to receive calls coming in. I'm going to give it a try.

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@RachelE   Open a ticket with PM Support so they aware of the issue.   Ask them to see if there is any equipment issue in your area.

[RachelE]

Yup, I did notice that there are a few Bell towers, and my work phone is Bell and it works fine. I'm going try my personal Public Mobile SIM in the work cell and see what happens. (My phone being the issue is something I hadn't considered, but it's a possibility.)

[esjliv]

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@RachelE wrote:

Jaybus! I'm in an area with Bell and Rogers, but the nearest Telus  tower is at least 60 km away.

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@RachelE remember to choose the Blue Bell towers too for pinging on those towers.

[RachelE]

The Public Mobile phone  doesn't work, but at least the VOIP download gives me a way to call out, and if the forwarding trick works, possibly I will still be able to receive calls coming in. I'm going to give it a try.

[RachelE]

Jaybus! I'm in an area with Bell and Rogers, but the nearest Telus  tower is at least 60 km away.

[esjliv]

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@RachelE wrote:

My area code is K0C 1S0. (Not sure if that's what's required for checking local cell towers?)

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@RachelE for your reference:  K0C 1S0

Coverage map: https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/bc/coverage

Canadian Cell Towers: http://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/cancellsites.html

Public can use Telus and Bell towers:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Using-Your-Service/Network

-sharing-explained/td-p/129092

[RachelE]

Hmmm...Prices are not as good as Public Mobile and unfortunately the reviews are less than stellar, so I don't think that'll be the alternate, if an alternate is required. Good to know there are choices beyond just the Big 3, though!

[softech]

@RachelE   working now?  Good!!

Your area does not have too many network towers, Rogers and Bell/Telus coverage are very much the same.  

[RachelE]

I appreciate the head's up about TextNow and the forwarding tip. That's a pretty handy back up! I can make calls from inside my house now, and that's good news! Thanks! 

My area code is K0C1S0. (Not sure if that's what's required for checking local cell towers?)

[gpixel]

@RachelE 

go with phonebox they have great prices!

https://gophonebox.com